If you're troubled by grammar, here's a helping hand

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I saw this on another site and found it amusingly helpful.
http://samanna.net/3pix/grammar.gif

[3894]

The OP reminded me of a poster I wish I had bought. It was a diagrammed sentence by the greatest French novelist, Marcel Proust. Proust tended toward verrrry long sentences.

So then I wondered, what exactly was the longest Proust sentence? Voilà. (http://ask.metafilter.com/35008/What-is-Prousts-longest-sentence)

Back on track, I love grammar.

[€uroMeinke]

Sometimes, I think I want to read Proust - this is not one of them

[alphabassettgrrl]

Hehehe... I love grammar too, though some people's grammar definitely troubles me.

[RStar]

Now, if I could only read fast enough to get them, they may help.

I was using ect. for years until I found out it was etc. :blush:

[scaeagles]

There is a new spelling curriculum at the school my children attend that empasizes words that are typically misused. Such as there, their, and they're; your and you're; its and it's; etc, etc, etc. It was only adopted last year, but my 3rd grade son now almost always uses them correctly. It it less a weekly spelling list as it is a writing curriculum that expands the common always-spell-correctly words as their writing becomes more complex. I rather like it.

[Gemini Cricket]

Its all in the way you reed into it. Their are alot of grammer things too know.
Two many if you ask me. Lets all go to the liberry!
:D

[mousepod]

I'm sorry GC, but that's "if you ax me". Try and be righter next time.

[Gemini Cricket]

I'm sorry GC, but that's "if you ax me". Try and be righter next time.
I apollogize.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Now I'm going to have nightmares about grammar abuse.

SCA- that's great for your kid's school. Those overlapping words are some that drive me crazy when they're used incorrectly. For some reason that is one thing that particularly goads me to craziness.

[Prudence]

My mother's pet peeve is compose/comprise. I get to hear about that at least once a week.

[Not Afraid]

I apollogize.

Please be more pacific.

[Kevy Baby]

If anyone needs grammar help, I are an English Major

[JWBear]

Sew, watt is you're wurst grammer pet peeve? Four me, its "Where you at?" followed by "That car is mines."

[3894]

Magellan circumcized the world with a giant clipper. That's one I remember from a friend who teaches Freshman English. It sounds too good to be true, that sentence.

Here's one that a student handed in to me. It was a beginning French class. At the time, it was teaching fashion to have even beginning students keep diaries in the target language. The students are given basic diary vocab, such as starting each entry Cher journal (Dear Diary).

So I get this notebook where every entry begins Chère laitière. It means Dear Dairymaid. Hmmm. :confused:

Ten minutes of blinking at that, I finally figured it out: if you get yourself a French/English dictionary and you spell diary as dairy ... voilà.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Your and You're! It's showing up on billboards incorrectly! AUGHGHGH!!! :mad:

We saw one at a furniture store the other day: All recliners are not created equal.

[Ponine]

Back on track, I love grammar.
I would imagine in your case you had better have a great affinity for grammar, let something go into print incorrectly. (My personal peeve with printed matter)

And SCA, we have the same type of spelling lists here too. It saves me from having to correct the Your, and you're, which frankly I love.
My son also has a list he has to keep in his notebook of commonly misused, or spelled words.

[Gemini Cricket]

"She's no albino. She was born right here in this country."
~ His Girl Friday

[Moonliner]

Grammar iz important 2 me. whnevr I snd msg 2 fRnds I alwys lIk 2 mAk suR dey R EZ 2 comprehend. Accurate grammatical structure iz a key element.




It's true, you really can find anything (http://www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl)on the net....

[Ghoulish Delight]

Its/It's. There isn't a publication in the country that doesn't screw that one up.

[AllyOops!]

I DO love slang, and I use it quite frequently in my posts and in my every day jargon. Silly? Uneducated? Either way, I like usin' it. ;)

What I don't like, but that's just me & I'm not judging because I guarantee I do stuff to irritate you without even realizing it: "u" "cuz" "4-eva" b-cuz" "c-u l8r" "bff" and all that sh*t. It's like speaking in friggin' license plate lingo. If I'm texting someone? You get the proper written word. I don't care if it takes me all damn day to write it, either.

Which reminds me, I swear too much. Oddly enough, I swear mostly when I write. I do not swear in conversation (except when enraged or talking amongst close friends in private conversation- then it's f-bomb's ahoy). It IS tacky. I need to cool it. However, I do not swear in public. I say silly things like fudge or fruitcake but no f-word.

[blueerica]

The "it's/its" debacle routinely finds its way into my work. The worst part of it all is that I know it, and catch it all the time. When I see myself typing it the wrong way, everything goes into slow-motion, like I'm doing some really cool Matrix stunt... except I'm not.

[blueerica]

Oh, and add to my list of grievances what IMs, and worse - text messaging - has done for grammar. Suddenly, it's acceptable to write incorrectly outside of those media. I've done it, too... fore go capitalization from time to time, but seriously... in schoolwork.

[mousepod]

I've done it, too... fore go capitalization from time to time, but seriously... in schoolwork.

That's forgo - or possibly forego. It's always one word.


Only in this thread, I promise.

[Kevy Baby]

Its/It's. There isn't a publication in the country that doesn't screw that one up.I force myself to think "it is" - which is the only correct usage of "it's". It is silly, but it works.

Oh, and add to my list of grievances what IMs, and worse - text messaging - has done for grammar.Even worse - business emails. I am shocked what I see come in on a regular basis.

I've done it, too... fore go capitalization from time to time, but seriously... in schoolwork.It appears you also forego the correct usage of forgo (either spelling is correct according to one source, but may not be so with all sources).

[Gemini Cricket]

I pronounce "street" as "shtreet". It's a Hawai'i pidgin english thing.
:shrug:

[Matterhorn Fan]

"Try and" drives me crazy. "I'm going to try and do my homework tonight." Yeah? You're both going to try it and do it? How nice for you.

I'm so glad we can all conversate about this.

[3894]

"Try and" drives me crazy. "I'm going to try and do my homework tonight." Yeah? You're both going to try it and do it? How nice for you.


Yeah, "try and" means the opposite. I'll try and make it = I'm not coming.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Much like "it was interesting" means "I hated it."

[Gemini Cricket]

"I could care less" bugs me. I think it's "I couldn't care less".

"Foilage" instead of "folliage"...

"Birfday" instead of "birthday"...

[Kevy Baby]

"I love you" instead of "you ruined my life"

[AllyOops!]

You guys are posting so many of the same things that trouble me!

Here's another one that drives me absolutely WONKY...

"Okay, no offense but..."

The word "but" simply negates everything that preceeded it. "I'm sorry but.." Please, no BUTS. Please say what you truly mean and mean it sincerely. No "but" action, please (unless it's the good kind. Cha-ching!) ;)

And much like it was referred to in the movie Mean Girls, if somebody says "no offense, but.." expect that you are going to hear the most offensive thing ever.

[Gemini Cricket]

And much like it was referred to in the movie Mean Girls, if somebody says "no offense, but.." expect that you are going to hear the most offensive thing ever.
Mean Girls started the whole "I know, right?" thing. Just like Clueless started the whole "As if" thing.
:D

[Gemini Cricket]

Ooh! I just heard one in our office. One of my co-workers likes saying "acrost" instead of "across".

[Ghoulish Delight]

It's "espresso", not "expresso" damnit!

And on a related subject, the use of "X" as a syllable. e.g. "Xtreme", "Xcelleration"

[Gemini Cricket]

The "expresso"/"espresso" thing annoyed me when I was working at Borders.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I love you all.

[lindyhop]

I'm now so terrified of making a grammatical error that I can hardly type.:p

[alphabassettgrrl]

Most of the posters here have no need to be afraid. You included, Lindy. You do fine.

[Kevy Baby]

Most of the posters here have no[t] need to be afraid.Am I the only one who is amused by the subtle irony of this statement.

[GusGus]

Ooh! I just heard one in our office. One of my co-workers likes saying "acrost" instead of "across".

this reminds me of the time when I worked in a florist:

A customer came in and asked for "Baby's Breast"

[CoasterMatt]

I was ready to disembowel my coworker with a staple remover today, when she wouldn't stop saying "O M G!" to everything.

[Alex]

A photo taken at a farmer's market type thing while in Alaska. It needs a hyphen, where would you put it?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1211/1304482145_a0406cf263_o.jpg

[lindyhop]

Forget punctuation. The word "fanny" just needs to be bigger.

[3894]

It needs a hyphen, where would you put it?

Heh heh I did enjoy that post way more than was perhaps proper for my age and station.

[mousepod]

Not that it's grammar-related. But I learned not to call it a "fanny-pack" whilst vacationing in England.